Sojourner Read Online Free PDF Page A

guys.  You act just like your momma.  God help the first jerk who gets on your bad side.”  He pats my shoulder.  “Let’s go home, Lizzie.”
    “I’ll be there in a few.  I just want to go by the cemetery and see Mom’s grave.”
    A frown hoods his eyes, and he’s looking at me very strangely, like he’s not happy about my newfound interest.  My mom’s been dead so long, he’s sure that’s not it.
    “You’ve never been to her grave before.  You want me to come?”
     I shake my head.  “No, I’ll be fine.”  I’m not about to tell him that I’m looking for a teenage boy, not my mom’s grave.  I want to see if Lev is there.  It’s a long-shot, but it’s definitely worth freezing my butt off for.  I shove the key into the door and unlock it.
    “Just be careful.”  I can tell by the hard set of his jaw and his stiffness, he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving me to my own devices.  Although Jimmie’s not my dad, he’s the only father I can remember, and he tries hard to do all the right things, which tells me that if he’s this nervous about this town, he’s got a good reason, and maybe the graffiti isn’t just a joke.
    I climb into the Jeep and start the engine.  He’s still standing there when I pull out of the parking lot, and Jimmie has gone to his car and started it as I drive to the cemetery.  Although I don’t know where Mom’s grave is, I will look.  After I find Lev.
    As I climb out of the Jeep, I see the first hesitant snowflakes gently tumble from the sky, gracefully dotting the landscape.  At first I think I’m just imagining them so I look harder.  Nope, it’s really snowing, and judging from the puffed out clouds, these first few flakes are the beginning of the snowstorm that Jimmie has threatened.
    A cold wind cuts through me, and I zip my coat, tucking my long hair into the hood that I draw around my face, trying to retain all the warmth I can.  Here goes nothing, I think.   My hands are freezing.  The harsh breeze chaps my dry lips, and for just a split second I contemplate returning to the Jeep and picking this up before school tomorrow.
    That’s when I spot the house just past the large bridge at the border of the cemetery.  The house is almost completely  hidden by a line of bushes.  Curious, I head toward a single-lane bridge over a frozen river, probably pretty deep in places.  It’s hard to tell because of the ice covering it.  Although most bridges have safety rails, this one is old enough so that besides the support beams, there is nothing blocking the water below.  Holes in the wood beams suggest a rail was there at one time but it has been removed.  The bridge itself is slick with ice, and in a smarter moment, I would have thought twice about crossing it.  Today just isn’t that smarter moment.  Desperate to explore, I scurry across it.  My feet hit a patch of ice.  I try to regain my balance.  Then I fall toward the side as open as the sky.  I reach for some part of the rail and grasp air.
    I plummet toward the river.  I think it will be cold, but I’m not expecting the slam of my right hip and shoulder against the ice.  Then the cold.  Shocked, I inhale, trying to flail upwards.  The water is deeper than I thought.  I can’t breathe.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
    Something grabs me, yanking me upwards.  I’m cold. So cold.  My body shakes violently and my teeth chatter.  I have no control over them.  Arms lift me.
    “Elizabeth?  Can you hear me?”
    The voice is strange.  Deep and rich.
    “Open your eyes.”  The voice is more desperate.
    I blink.  Lev.  He exhales in relief and shakes his head.  “Only one river, and you fall in.”   Another heavy sigh.  “Let’s get you inside.”
    He’s carrying me.  My head rests against his chest, and his clothes are just as wet as mine.  My eyes are heavy and want to close.
    “Hey!” he says, jostling me.  “Nap time was history class.